Best websites to research before buying a home in NJ (disclosure, square footage)

[LCMT]

Over the past year I have had some interesting experiences shopping for a home. Being a 1st time home buyer I have learned some things along the way. Info that some realtors, especially the sellers agent won't have (or won't give up if they don't have to). This info you the buyer should research to know all the facts to protect you and your investment. Here are some websites that we have found helpful.

Garden State MLS
Real Estate Listings, Homes for Sale and Rental Property Listings – REALTOR.com®
Home search: gsmls has taxes, realtor sometimes has maps.

http://www.bing.com/maps/?FORM=ZZLH8
The birds eye is useful in checking how busy the road is, what the neighborhood looks like, how close the highways were and what is in the surrounding area. When researching a home once we found out the neighbor next door was a junk collector/garbage guy by looking on the birds eye map and seeing what looked like a plane crash in his back yard.
Obviously not good if you don't want to worry about toxic waste, mosquitoes and rats living next door.

http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bi...t=0801&mode=11
PropertyShark - Real Estate Maps, Foreclosures, Property Reports and Comparables
Nj tax records/Property shark. Lets you look into taxes, land size, sq footage, etc. Helped us to see how much they paid for the home and if they were overpricing their home. Also can look at the rest of the neighorhood to see how much everything bubbled and help you assess a better value. Good for comps also. If values might go back to 02/03 values this will give you a idea on what you might want to pay.

NJ Highlands Council - Interactive Map (http://maps.njhighlands.us/default.asp - broken link)
NJ wetlands/highlands protection map
This site lets you put in an address of a home you are interested in to see if the property you are purchasing is in a protected zone in northern nj. Issues w/ this might be if you want to put an inground/above ground pool, remove some brush/trees to make your yard bigger or if you want to add an addition. Make sure you know what you can do w/ your property so you can create the home you want without any legal ramifications. We backed out of a home purchase because we couldn't make the yard the way we wanted, to us why buy a nice piece of land and then not be able to put in the pool we always wanted.

Schooldigger.com -- Search and compare elementary, middle, and high schools.
We found to be the most accurate site for finding how good the schools are in the neighborhood.

Get Your Walk Score - A Walkability Score For Any Address
Walkscore: type in your address and it tells you how walkable your town is. Good to see where the nearest grocery stores, movie theaters, restaurants, libraries, schools etc are to your probable purchase.

Trulia - Real Estate, Homes For Sale, Sold Properties, Real Estate Maps
Real Estate, Homes for Sale & Real Estate Values - Zillow
Good for comps/recently sold properties & home locations.

http://www.stopthelines.com/
There is a possible powerline project going though that might add additional taller towers. Useful to see on the map where the possible PSE&G powerlines might be put up. How might this effect your health, property values and the landscape of your neighborhood.

FYI
Make sure your home is not in a flood zone
Make sure you research if that particular town is reassessing its property taxes.
From experience try to get a disclosure emailed to you up front so you can see if you want to move forward on a property. We have found things out after seeing the property a few times that stopped us in our tracks. This is a waste of everyone's time. Things like an old land fill behind the property that can contaminate the well/drinking water and foundation problems. This will also give you an idea how old the septic is and if it will have to be replaced soon after you purchase your home. This could be a big expense.
Septic Care: What is a Septic System? How Does a Septic System Work? Why Does a Septic System Fail? What are Signs of a Failing Septic System?

Hope this info is helpful, especially for the 1st time home buyer.
If you know of any helpful info please share.
Good luck and have fun home shopping!

[LCMT]

One of the last towns in Essex county to have low property taxes is now getting reassessed. Cedar Grove hasn't been reassessed in 33 years. All of Essex county is to be finished for 2011. Verona is going through reassessment now.

Property reval to begin in two months - Verona-Cedar Grove Times (http://www.vcgtimes.com/NC/0/431.html - broken link)

Other towns that have reassessed for this July are:
Byram, Livingston, Lincoln Park & Middletown

[middle-aged mom]

I have been out of NJ for almost 8 years. I just looked up what my property taxes would have been, had I stayed.

YEESH

Thanks for these links.

[househuntinggal]

The walkscore website is great....just confirms how "unwalkable" most of New Jersey is!! We've been trying to find a walkable neighborhood similar to where we lived in metro DC area (Arlington VA) - no luck so far.

[LCMT]

We also take the comps from the past 3 to 6 months...get the old mls w/ the pics and specs. Compare upgrades, land, how many beds and baths, total number of rooms, finished basement, public water/gas to septic/well and square feet. If you have a comparable home that sold within the past 3 to 6 months and divide that home sales price by the square footage and then do that calculation w/ the home you want to purchase you will find what todays price should be (also consider that 6 months later the market has fallen even more). We are finding that 90% of sellers aren't even listing at fair market value! They are still way overpriced! We also found that in 2003 prices bubbled alot. So prices should realistically be down to 02 levels.
Thats why we like the nj tax website so we can look at how crazy the prices went and get a better understanding of what we are up against.

[LCMT]

Went to another open house and yet again another realtor who didn't give us any new info. Although the home was overpriced by 60k+ according to the comps we figured we would take a look. Off course we research everything so it surprises me when we ask a guestion and they can't give us an answer. If you are selling a house don't you go and get the most recent survey. We want to know one thing that we can't find out on our own (well you can if you call the town and get the info over the phone or pick up a copy, but why should we, it should be available right off the bat). How old is the septic, when was it last serviced and where the hell is it on the property. Yeah I know, you get some of that in the disclosure...then have one there at the open house along with the survey so we can get all the info up front. Those are the only things we can't find out over the internet today...so give us something. What are you there for. I pretty much know more about the town, neighborhood etc than the damn realtor. We asked one realtor who was hosting an open house if the land was on wetlands....she tells us she doesn't think so and sure we can cut a few trees and brush....find out she also grew up in the town....go home and find the entire property is on protected wetlands and most likely we can't do a damn thing to it. Again I'm talking about sellers agents. Obviously there are definitley some good realtors out there, but in todays day and age you have to have some sort of an edge. But then again I have to remember they are salespeople and some believe give info as needed. Eventually there will be a website with all that info too.

[LCMT]

Foreclosure activity at record levels

New Jersey Real Estate Report

[LCMT]

Posted this on a different site....thought this worked good here also.
Recent comps in the area mean simply that some people are just stupid when they pay these prices or are not informed. There is no reason that these homes and taxes should be this high. The buyers are the ones that have to wait it out or only offer what they think a home should be really worth...by considering where the appreciation value every year (3-5%) added on starting from 2001. After that the appreciation values went out of control. (Not in line with job raises at all.) Thats why you research the neighborhood, see where similar prices were for similar homes in 01 and add everything up, including upgrades and come out with your price. Screw recent comps....most aren't even listing at fair market value anyway. It will take a while but as long as buyers are giving people these prices it will just screw up the market longer. As far as I know even people who bought in 07-08 are underwater now. So these buyers today might also be underwater also, their homes taking longer to gain back there value...serves em right if they want to continue to purchase at these crazy prices.
Oh and with the way everything is going, who knows where our taxes will be in the next few years...even more people underwater who can't pay anymore because of the property taxes. The gov can do whatever they want....and what are u going to do about it if your taxes go up much higher....

[LCMT]

[SIZE=2][/SIZE]
Known Contaminated Sites in New Jersey Reports

[SIZE=2]NJDEP SRP - Known Contaminated Sites in NJ (KCS-NJ)[/SIZE]

[LCMT]

F.E.M.A.
FEMA Map Service Center -

I found this one for Monmouth County.
http://www.state.nj.us/njoem/pdf/mit...i_monmouth.pdf

Usually if a home needs flood insurance it's in a flood zone. Your realtor can find this out also...it should also be on the disclosure.